The flight to New-York
was just under 8 hours and fairly uneventful. The couple next to me were going
to spend 3 nights in the City and I was most intrigued when 20 mins before
touch down the young man got a box down from the luggage rack possibly 15”x 6”x
6” which he handed to his Lady. She opened it up to reveal a pop-up mirror and
umpteen pots and boxes and numerous brushes with which she proceeded to do art
work on her face. On taking a good look at her face I could not say that it was
an improvement as I had not seen her last year but it seemed an example of
excess vanity baggage compared with my Bic razor, comb and tooth brush. They
were staying at the Marriot Hotel.
By 10.30 we were
through customs and baggage and waiting outside for the Grey-line Transport
that Mark had arranged through his Travel agent to get us to the Hotel. As
there was no sign of him Mark spoke with the large black clerk at the desk. On
her doing some phoning it appeared that we would have to wait 2 hours, she soon
put a stop to that nonsense and the guy was on the scene in 20 mins. The small
run around had about 8 lots of visitor including us and I noticed a sign inside
that said “Your Voucher payment does not include the drivers tip!”. However as
the guy could not or would not find our Hotel and we finished 2 blocks from
where we should be his remonstrations fell on deaf ears with Mark who was
handling everything.
Union Square Inn is in
a somewhat seedy part of lower Mid-Town Manhattan and the whole of the front
was in the process of being “Done up”. However once inside and at the desk
things looked smarter. Nice carpeting, woodwork and door furniture but on
looking for the lift as we were room 404 on the 3rd floor we find we had to
resort to climbing the stairs (50) to get to our room. The key to the door is a
piece of plastic which opens the door to reveal a room approximately 7 feet and
a half by 11 feet and a half with one bed a bedside bit of furniture with a
bed-side light on it. On the other short wall by the door is a chest of drawers
and that is about it, apart from the on-suite bathroom facilities. The first
words Mark says are “Where’s your bed?”. Mark queries the situation with the
office and returns with the news that there are two beds there but one is
sitting on top of the other the top one being made slightly larger. We first
have to find a home for the bedside gear and so get it jammed in beside the
chest of drawers and the door, which leaves just enough room for the bathroom
door to open. Once we get the beds in place there is about 18 inches between
them. However there is a T.V. fixed up on the wall and air conditioning also,
it’s true we are short on space but what would we have done with it if had
some, eat it?
By 1.30 we are on the
streets walking with a view to find the City Library so that Mark could have a
session on the internet and get some messages back home. We find the library on
5th Ave and Mark has to wait till 3.0 p.m. to get a place on a computer so the
45 min wait. I was quite glad of the sit down as my back had developed a
painful muscle, I think I must have been sitting in the plane in a poor
posture. The Library rooms are magnificent, beautiful big tables and chairs,
the wooden armchairs quite huge, to fit one big American or one and a half Englishman.
We spend the time perusing the map of Manhattan and planning a few trips. Mark
gets a half hour on the internet and gets 6 or 7 messages off. We then made a
point of searching out the Empire State Building and return back to base via
the Flat Iron Building where we stopped for our first meal in an eating place.
Mark orders a chicken sandwich that comes with a salad dish. The sandwich is so
large he cannot get his mouth round it. My meal was a Macaroni cheese dish with
ham. I could only manage half of this of course and Mark decided to call a halt
at half way through his. He asked for the remaining half to be wrapped up to
take away and it came back in a neat plastic container. This first meal cost 17
dollars, about £12 which for what we had and being where we were was par for
the course.
Back at the Inn about
5.0 p.m. where I tried out the kettle and had a drink and started on the first
of the loaves with an Apricot Jam Butty. It had been a long day, by now it must
have been about 2.0 a.m. our time but only 7.30 p.m New York time but we
settled down to sleep anyway. Not a great night’s sleep for me, could not
locate the sleeping pills and was awake on and off all night. Awake from 4.0
onwards and just waited till 6.0 when I thought it time I got a hot drink
going. The local electric power was 120 volts so our little kettle took a good
15 mins to get the 2 cups of water to boil. Whilst this was happening I would
get washed and shaved and dressed and then was ready to get a little something
for our Breakfast.
On the road again just
after 8.0 a.m. and walked through Chinatown, very interesting, fruit shops with
all the fruit polished up and the Chinese eating houses with rows of roast duck
in the windows. Chinatown seemed to cover a very big area. Found Brooklyn
Bridge and walked across it. Plenty of people on bikes or jogging, skating or
just generally taking a walk and some fresh air. A really fine day, Blue sky
and good views of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Took almost half an
hour to get across the bridge and then we walked into Brooklyn itself via a
wooded area and a small park where we sat and eat the contents of the “doggy”
bag and a ham sandwich that I had made before we left. Walked further into
Brooklyn with a view to getting to the Botanical Gardens but on asking a couple
of chaps they said it was too far to walk and in any case we would have had to
go through a rather rough area. They suggested we walk to the promenade and
pointed us in the right direction. Great views of Manhattan from the promenade
and got talking to a gent who was out for a stroll and he took us to another
viewing point and chatted to us about Brooklyn and New York. Made our way back
across the bridge and made our way towards Battery Park and the ferry area.
This must have been
Saturday as we had decided to drop the idea of having Lunch at the Jazz Club
that Roger had mentioned as we were too far away by now. Thought we might go
eat in McDonalds as I could see a jazz pianist playing in an upstairs. Had fun
watching the customers, lots of weird blacks and odd New York Characters. Onto
Battery Park and saw the big queues of folks waiting to get on to the ferry for
Statue of Liberty. Visited the World Trade Centre and sat for a while in the
vast atrium and just wondered at everything. Set off back up town at 2.0 p.m.
going past the old jetties where the big Atlantic Liners used to berth and then
cut in to get to the Contemporary Art Museum then a brief look at the Puck
Building and back along Lafayette & 4th Ave. Bought some ham and some cake
and got back at the Inn at around 5.0pm.
Sunday. We have a late
start, 9.0 a.m. after a breakfast in the room of ham sandwich followed by an
apricot jam sandwich and ample coffee we are on the road again. We decide to
give Marks feet an easier day as he had developed a blister on the bottom of
each heel so decided to take the Cruise around the island of Manhattan. With
the concession for me this came to $41, which was our biggest expense for the
whole 6 days. The boat could had held about 150 passengers and slowly worked
its way anti clock-wise around the whole island and had a drinks and sandwich
bar on one of the decks. A commentary was being given by “Dave … my name’s
Dave”. He was a real New Yorker with attitude and made the trip very
interesting with plenty of good information and witty remarks.
This took just over
two and a half hours. We took several photos of the skyline of Manhattan and
Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. A beautiful clear day, blue sky but
cold.
From Battery Park
where we disembarked we set off to walk to Central Park. Somewhere along the
way we passed through a rather smart section with Hotels with a canvas awning
out in front covering the sidewalk to the kerb with a convex mirror at each
outer corner. Mark had the idea they were to see that nobody of mischievous
intent was found lurking about. However to get to the bottom of the puzzle I
stopped and asked at one place where there was a doorman on duty and had a good
chat with him. In the Winter when it is well below freezing the mirrors enabled
the doormen of these places to keep an eye on the streets without getting
frozen and he said that it was important to stop “Dogs Delivery” in the
vicinity of the place. At various places we saw “Stretch Limo’s”, a white one
which Mark took a photo of me holding the door measured 12 of my paces about 20
feet.
Central Park starts at
59th street and carried on for two and a half miles up to 108 Street. We of
course walked all the way stopping to have a Hot Dog at a food stand and then
to watch the passing show at one of the big lakes with a water fountain
playing. From here we decided to walk to the very top of the park to where
there was the Conservatory Park. We didn’t see anything of a conservatory but
the was an excellent water fountain and formal gardens. Not a lot of people at
this end, quite a peaceful bit of space. We found a spot where we could look
out on to the lake at the top of the park so as to be able to say we had seen
the top of Central Park.
It was now time to
make our way back to the Inn and there was no way I could manage to walk all
the way back to 14th street which could have been another 4 miles!! We then got
a bus going down 5th Ave. The fare is one and a half dollars each so Mark
tendered $3 to the Driver who said “Coins only.” we said we had no coins so he
motioned for us to sit down anyway and set off on his route. Subsequent
passengers who were in the same predicament who refused getting to stay on the
bus so we considered ourselves lucky. Again it was fun to observe the
passengers and the driver who was a big black guy. We bought some food in a
“deli”. Here we helped ourselves to salad and stuff and got the whole lot
weighed and carried it away in a plastic box. This we had back at the Inn with
2 beers. Watched T.V. and read and Mark worked out that we had spent $100 in 3
days and he had $160 left, of course I had at least £100 so no worries.
Monday was a Public
Holiday also Yom Kippur but everything was open and working. We decided we
would walk through Chinatown again and also see the Stock Exchange. It was
quite cool 10c and a North wind blowing so we got extra clothes on. When got to
Chinatown we saw lots of the local Chinese doing Tai Chi type of exercises with
some Chinese music coming from a load-speaker a couple had wooden swords which
they did special movements with also there was a man stripped down to his blue
jeans walking around this little playground with 3 or 4 plastic cups balanced
on his head just slowly walking round and round, we figured it must be some
form of meditation. We were wrapped up in several layers against the cold but
he did not seem to feel it. Outside the playground we saw a crowd of men
gathered in a bunch and on closer examination saw there were 2 small tables and
they were playing a serious game of Majong. Nearby a crowd of Chinese women
round a table and they were playing cards. All in the open, about 9.30 a.m. on
a cold morning but they were all wrapped up.
We made for the river
then and made our way through Fulton Fish Market and gradually round so that we
could look down Wall Street. Here we saw the large Bronze of a Bull which was
attracting the attention of a crowd of Japanese Tourists, Mark took a photo of
the Bull and then we had to wait a while for the next group of tourist to view
the Exchange. Finally we got into the Exchange building after going through a
security check. From up above the dealing room we could observe the frenetic
activity of the dealers busy making deals and share prices being logged on a
big screen.
After this we headed
back into Chinatown again and sorted out the Chinese restaurant we wanted to
eat at. Mark had spotted some Peking Duck in the window of one particular place
and this is where we finished up. This was the most expensive meal we ever had
the whole time, but we enjoyed it all. Started with a pot of tea which we drank
while waited for the stuff we had ordered. As a starter we had a dish of what I
could only describe as “baps” opened up and filled with duck by the waiter and
then the main course of Peking Duck with plenty of green shoots and veg of a
Chinese nature and finished with an Orange.
Mark wanted to get
some presents for home so we made our way to “Macy’s” which was not to far from
the Empire State Building. However we went too far and got near the Grand
Central Station so called in there and admired the huge interior. We went down
below and explored the Food Concourse. Treated ourselves to an Ice Cream. We
also spent a bit of time in the Railway Museum there, which was fun and then to
“Macy’s”. Mark was pondering whether to buy a “Macy’s” shopping bag, a rather
swish affair but then went off to look at other stuff. I, while this was going
on sat resting myself and noted that the Gay fellow at a desk was issuing these
bags for free if the customer could produce a receipt for goods spent up to $30
so as soon as Mark showed up I tipped him off about this and a satisfactory
deal was done.
We had decided to get
up the Empire State Building today but to wait until it was just approaching
dusk and so it was time to get along. The entrance price was $9 & $7 for my
concession, and up we went in the lift to the 86th floor. The view is
indescribable, it has to be experienced, we saw it in daylight, dusk and as the
light went completely. The view is so compelling it is with difficulty that you
tear yourself away from it and come down to earth again. I bought a calendar of
New York Views for $7 and then we got a couple of bottles of beer and some ham
and got back to the Inn. Now 8.0 p.m. so we had been on the go for 12 hours and
still had to climb the 50 steps to the room!!
Tuesday. Set off for
the “Met” at 8.30 a.m. and got there after an hours walking just as the place
was opening. Saw much of interest, most impressive being the structure and open
space layout. Trees in pots etc. Great American section, stained glass windows
and huge artefacts from the various rich benefactors such as the Vanderbilts.
Had a couple of hours there and then moved up town to have quick look at the
Guggenheim, which was under extensive renovation. Crossed the park and saw the
Belvedere Castle type building. Then a little walk downtown to take in the
Natural History Museum; we used Robs free voucher here. Vast place; quite tired
by now but covered a fair bit of the place. We had a simple meal soon after
this. Mark had a chicken sandwich and I had a meal of Tuna and some salad all
weighed out on a scale by the till. Mark was now seeking out a magazine shop as
he wanted to by a magazine on Embroidery for a friend. Found a shop with a
reputed 7,000 magazines for sale!!
Mark phoned the
Grayline people and came back with the news that they would not or could not
pick up from the hotel, only from the corner of 7th Ave & 31 St. Later he
phoned the airport to confirm the return flight. We bought 2 cans of beer and a
tomato for (35 cents) to go with the sardine sandwich I planned to make for our
supper. We walked all the way back to the Inn a total we figured of 11 kms
which we thought was the average for each day. I worked out that each block was
a total of 90 paces and taking about a minute a block to walk.
Wednesday. We packed
up the bags and left them in the office. We then set off for the Forbes Inc
Museum, on the way we passed an old Jewish Cemetery. We had some difficulty in
locating the Forbes Collection and asked a Lady doing some gardening and
finally found the building.
It was now 10.30am,
the Forbes collection started off with a huge collection of model boats and
ships, could have been 200. Then a collection of very important letters from
men of state and various notables. Finally the Faberge collection and just at
the exit a most amazing mechanical device mounted on the wall with a series of
large ball-bearings going through hoops and loops and swinging arms and then to
start all over again, a most gigantic Executive Toy designed to try and take
your mind away from your falling the stocks and shares market.
After this we had our
midday snack in a small park and amused ourselves watching the locals again. We
wanted to see the tour that took us all over the Tenement Blocks that the
immigrants to New York lived in during the early part of the century. This
started at 2.0pm so we made our way to the site and joined a group of 12 and a
guide who gave an excellent talk about the building and the occupants and how
they lived in those times.
We had a fair bit of
time to fill between now and when we should pick up our bags from the hotel and
make our way to the pick-up corner. We thought a diversion would be to walk to
the middle of the Williamsburg Bridge and this did indeed take up about an hour’s
walking and exploring, not a great view as the structure of the bridge blocked
out a lot of the scene, however we can say that we walked the Williamsburg
Bridge!!
So it’s now back to
the Inn and get on the Underground to get to 7th Ave and 31st. The stop was a
little further on so more walking this time with our bags. However we found an
interesting spot near Madison Square Gardens and watched the antics of the fans
going in to see a ball game of some kind. Finally we moved over to where the
transport would be hopefully stopping to pick us up to take us to Newark
Airport. We finally finished the last of the 2 loaves of bread with a large ham
sandwich.
A truly memorable
holiday, quite unforgettable.
